


the sweet of bitter bark

by ThatWeirdGuyInTheBushes



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Dream Smp, Gen, Goodbyes, Post-Canon, Repetition, They/Them Pronouns for Eret (Video Blogging RPF), Traitor Eret (Video Blogging RPF), a semi happy ending, eret needs a hug, quackity is so tired, schlatt has been ousted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:22:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27438013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatWeirdGuyInTheBushes/pseuds/ThatWeirdGuyInTheBushes
Summary: “I’m leaving,” Eret says.Wilbur stays in the shadows of the White House, hands tucked into his coat pockets. Eret thinks, for just a second, that they see his eyes glow. Tell me not to, they want to say. Tell me not to, and I won’t.“Good.”-Eret is leaving. But they'll say goodbye first.
Relationships: Eret & Floris | Fundy, Eret & Niki | Nihachu, Eret & Wilbur Soot, dont! ship! real! people!, only! platonic! relationships!
Comments: 17
Kudos: 217





	the sweet of bitter bark

**Author's Note:**

> title is from the poem "to earthward" by Robert frost

“I’m leaving,” Eret says.

Wilbur stays in the shadows of the White House, hands tucked into his coat pockets. Eret thinks, for just a second, that they see his eyes glow. _Tell me not to,_ they want to say. _Tell me not to, and I won’t._

“Good.”

Wilbur spins on the heel of his boot and stomps off into the woods. He used to walk so quiet. So proud. He could scare Eret sometimes, with how he would appear next to them without a single creak from the floorboards. His footsteps are never soft now, even when he limps. He scares Eret for different reasons, these days.

They almost apologize. But Wilbur’s gone, and Eret doesn’t want to waste their breath.

-

“I’m leaving,” Eret says.

Quackity looks up from his desk, his eyes defeated. He’s looked so tired since he took office. Eret internally curses George for not being around more and then remembers that Quackity is their enemy. They should be happy he’s tired.

Although, when they think about it, it’s not like enemies will matter much once they’ve left.

_Tell me to stay. Tell me to help. Tell me to do it, and I will._

“Where are you going?” Quackity rubs at his eyes but doesn’t set down his pen.

“I’m not sure yet,” Eret admits. They shrug loosely, pressing their lips together and watching Quackity’s pen. It’s black and gold. Eret can’t help but wonder who first held it. It’s pretty enough to have been Wilbur’s once, audacious enough to have been Schlatt’s. But black and gold have always been Quackity’s colours.

“Okay.”

Eret leaves, chased out by the sound of muffled yawns and the scratching of pen on paper.

-

“I’m leaving,” Eret says.

Niki stops frosting the top of her cake. Her grip on her knife gets white-knuckled. “Are you sure?”

Eret wishes they could say no. _Just ask._

“Yes.”

Niki sets down the knife and steadies herself against the counter. She wraps a hug around their middle.

“Be safe,” she says, and her voice doesn’t tremble.

“I will.”

-

“I’m leaving,” Eret says.

Fundy stops scratching at the bottom of his shoe and looks up. Eret sits down in the grass next to him, royal cloak flowing out behind. L’Manberg’s trees are so pretty, this time of year. If only Eret stuck around long enough to notice.

“I’m sorry,” Fundy replies.

“For what?”

Fundy’s quiet. There are a lot of things he could say, Eret thinks. He could be sorry for the walls, or for the flag. For Schlatt, for the election.

“For what I said the day you came back. I was mad. I don’t mean it anymore.” Eret blinks. Swallows. They can’t say they were expecting that.

They don’t blame Fundy for anything he said, not really. Eret appreciates that he doesn’t deny that he meant it when he said it. “You don’t have to say sorry for that. I deserved it.”

Fundy is quiet for a while. Eret picks some wildflowers from the grass and begins to weave a flower crown. _Ask me to stay. Say I didn’t deserve it. Ask me for anything and I’ll give it to you. Just ask._

“Yeah, you did. But you don’t anymore. I wouldn’t say it again.”

Eret stands. “Thank you.”

Fundy doesn’t look up again. His head faces towards the beginning of sunset. “No problem.”

-

“I’m leaving,” Eret says.

Bad frowns, but his face is drawn, and he almost looks like he expected this. Skeppy seems distraught. Sapnap looks contemplative.

“Do you want anything, before you go? We have enough food and weapons to spare you a little.” Bad places a gentle hand on Eret’s forearm.

“No, I think I’ll be alright.” 

Skeppy’s arms twitch up like he’s about to go in for a hug before he thinks better of it.

Sapnap surprises them with a handshake. “I’m glad I met you, Eret.”

Eret can’t help but think that Sapnap and Dream might be the only people in this Kingdom who have ever felt that way. “I’m glad I met you as well.”

Eret is turning to leave when Bad’s voice reaches them. “Eret-”

_Ask._

“Are you sure you don’t want anything?”

“I’m sure. Thank you.”

-

“I’m leaving,” Eret said.

Said. Past tense.

Dream had laughed at that. His ever-smiling mask staring up at Eret’s throne, at Eret’s crown, at the gemstones inside it that Eret had fought tooth and nail to get, and he had laughed.

“Sure you are.”

“I am. I’m leaving this Kingdom, and I’m not returning. George can be king. I’ll live somewhere else.”

“Please. What are you without this?”

And that was the question. What makes King Eret, if not their crown, their power? Who will they be without it?

A traitor. A human. A coward.

If there’s something else beyond that, it hasn’t been discovered yet.

This conversation is why Eret does not visit Dream before they leave. They are scared of being talked out of this for reasons that are not friendship. If someone wants them to stay, they just need to say it.

-

“I’m leaving,” Eret says.

The castle walls echo, big and lonely and empty, just like they’ve always been. These walls are filled with regret, Eret thinks. With cowardice and misery. They made these walls for parties. For big gatherings and royalty and ballroom dances.

They don’t think anyone besides them has ever so much as spent a night in the place. They look down at their polished black dress shoes and see their own reflection.

“I’m sorry,” they say, and they can’t tell if they’re apologizing to the castle or themselves.

-

“I’m leaving,” Eret says.

The wind whistles through Tubbo’s empty home. Eret wishes they could tell Tubbo that they’re leaving. But Tubbo and Tommy have been gone for a while. They chose this path so much faster than Eret did. As soon as Schlatt was defeated and Quackity was in power and Wilbur was starting to calm down a little, they were hopping on to a horse and galloping off into the woods together. Tubbo told Eret goodbye.

“I hope that you’re happy one day, Eret. I hope that you can make yourself happy.”

-

Eret is leaving.

They stand at the edge of the Kingdom they ruled, the Kingdom they always wanted to rule, and wish for someone to appear. Someone to burst from the trees at the last moment. They want someone to ask them.

They want someone to want them.

Eret says goodbye only because they want someone to stop them. To pull them back. To say that they shouldn’t leave.

But no one does.

And maybe that is Eret’s own doing.

They think of Tubbo and Tommy, somewhere in the woods, and consider what finding them would be. Telling Tubbo that they’re working on happiness.

Telling Tommy that they’re sorry.

They think of moving on, of finding a new home. Somewhere to start fresh, to be better. Maybe that Hermitcraft scene they keep hearing about.

Maybe they become a better person. Maybe they get better friends.

All Eret knows is that it’s time to move on. To find a place they want to stay in, in a land that wants them back.

**Author's Note:**

> comment to hug my cats


End file.
